Sri Lanka ‘A’ Captain Dimuth Karunaratne won the toss and elected to bat first in the 1st of the three unofficial Tests against Bangladesh ‘A’ today. The 4-day match is played at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium, Chittagong.
The match was scheduled to be played at the Sheikh Kamal International Cricket Stadium in Cox’s Bazar, but due to inclement weather in the coastal town Cox’s Bazar, the venue was changed.
Both teams had 4 Test caps each in their playing XIs,
Sri Lanka ‘A’ XI: Dimuth Karunaratne (c), Lahiru Milantha, Lahiru Thirimanne, Ashan Priyanjan, Sadeera Samarawickrama (wk), Charith Asalanka, Shammu Ashan, Prabath Jayasuriya, Nisala Tharaka, Lakshan Sandakan, Shehan Madushanka
Bangladesh ‘A’ XI: Soumya Sarkar, Shadman Islam, Sabbir Rahman, Tushar Imran, Mosaddek Hossain (c), Zakir Hasan (wk), Mohammad Saifuddin, Naeem Hasan, Nazmul Islam, Abu Hider Rony, Khaled Ahmed
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Skipper Karunaratne and 24-year old Lahiru Milantha opened the batting for Sri Lanka ‘A’. Lahiru Milantha who was added to the squad late after Dhanushka Gunathilake was sent to the West Indies as Angelo Mathews’ replacement, couldn’t make the most of the given opportunity as he survived only 25 balls scoring just 4 runs.
The captain once again paired up with a Lahiru, this time with the more experienced Lahiru Thirimanne, and put up a partnership of 85 runs for the 2nd wicket. Dimuth Karunaratne was trapped in front for a well-made 60, becoming the second victim of Khaled Ahmed.
Ashan Priyanjan then together with Thirimanne put on 46 runs for the 3rd wicket before he got out scoring 23 runs. Wicket-keeper batsman Sadeera Samarawickrema perished soon having scored just 2 runs.
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Khaled Ahmed was the pick of the Bangla bowlers claiming impressive figures of 14-5-37-3.
Lahiru Thirimanne and Charith Asalanka remained unbeaten when rain brought an early end to the day.
Brief Scores
SL ‘A’ 171/4 (60.2) Lahiru Thirimanne 66*, Dimuth Karunaratne 60, Khaled Ahmed 3/37
